No other school districts have jumped on the Brookfield-LaGrange Park District 95 bandwagon when it comes to eliminating step raises for teachers and tying pay increases only to the consumer price index.
So it’ll be interesting to see whether any districts pick up on part two of that new strategy – tying the district superintendent’s base pay increases to CPI.
That’s what the D95 school board agreed to on Aug. 25, when board members ratified a new four-year contract with Supt. Mark Kuzniewski. The language and terms of the contract with respect to pay hikes mirrors the landmark teachers’ contract passed last year.
“The board and superintendent have agreed to work together to formulate future compensation over the length of the contract that is tied to CPI and performance,” said school board President James Landahl in a press release Monday. “Much like the recent teachers’ contract, the superintendent’s contract will be unlike any other in the state, relative to future salary increases.”
Although Kuzniewski did get a one-time 7-percent bump in salary at the beginning of the deal, future raises are determined by a fixed percentage of the CPI, with no raise being smaller than 1.75 percent or higher than 5 percent in any given year.
Kuzniewski’s salary at the start of the deal, for this school year, is $160,000. His previous salary was $149,300. As far as how that stacks up with the four other elementary school superintendents in districts serving the Landmark coverage area, Kuzniewski’s salary for 2011-12 is on the low end of the spectrum.
Only Komarek School District 94 Supt. Neil Pellicci has a lower salary in 2011-12, at $153,072. D94 is a one-school, K-8 district serving parts of North Riverside and Broadview.
Lyons-Brookfield District 103 Supt. Michael Warner made $156,737 in base salary in 2010-11 and will make $166,141 in 2011-12, after which he’ll retire.
Riverside District 96 Supt. Jonathan Lamberson made $266,464 in base salary in 2010-11, while LaGrange-Brookfield District 102 Supt. Warren Shillingburg made $173,736 last school year. Salary information for the 2011-12 school year for those two superintendents wasn’t immediately available.
“I know the board utilized salary data, which placed me in the low/middle range, and any further compensation is directly tied to CPI,” said Kuzniewski, who added he fully supported tying his raises to that economic indicator.
“I’m extremely comfortable and proud of the fact that the board and I have such a good working relationship that we saw the value in doing CPI in the same way we did for the teachers’ contract.
“As superintendents, we’re constantly under the microscope for salary purposes,” he added. “This is just one way superintendents can truly work with districts to provide quality education in an economy that’s uncertain and where state funding is uncertain.”
In addition to the base salary, Kuzniewski also qualifies for other benefits, including health insurance and contributions by the district to the Teachers Retirement System for his pension. The district also contributes a small sum toward post-retirement health insurance benefits.
Both Kuzniewski and the board also stated that including annual salary increases in the contract will allow both sides to concentrate only on educational matters.
“The only time the board and superintendent are on opposite sides of the table is when they’re discussing the contract,” said Kuzniewski. “If you’re doing that every year, it pushes you on opposite sides of the table and, in my opinion, delays and interferes in moving the district forward.
“To be here for another four years will give the community and district the best bang for its buck.”
Those thoughts were echoed by Landahl, who said it was important to solidify district leadership for the long term.
“Information and research demonstrates that a school district’s success is related to the establishment of long-term leadership,” stated Landahl. “Both the board and the superintendent recognize that there is a value to the community in such a relationship in that certain long-term goals, the district’s vision, and the overall performance (academic and otherwise) are all solidified when consistent leadership is secured.”